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Zimbabwe chaos wipes out education for 4.5 million pupils

The Times

October 8, 2008

O-level pass rates in Zimbabwe, once the envy of
Africa, have fallen from 72 per cent in the mid-1990s to 11 per cent. Now the
government has been forced to cancel the academic year

Jan Raath in Harare

The class of 2008 will not receive an education. Since the school year began
in January, Zimbabwe's 4.5 million pupils have had a total of 23 days
uninterrupted in the classroom, teaching unions say - a sorry state for a
country that once had the highest standard of education in Africa.

President Mugabe became an African hero of rare distinction when he carried
out a big expansion of the education system in the early years of his rule. As
with most of the country's infrastructure, that system is now in the process of
total collapse.

In the mid-1990s there was a national O-level pass rate of 72 per cent. Last
year it crashed to 11 per cent. Many schools recorded zero passes.

To avoid the humiliation of total failure in 2008 the Government has
cancelled the academic year. “It would be criminal if the Government allows
examinations to go ahead,” Raymond Majongwe, the secretary-general of the
Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe, said.

In January teachers went on a prolonged strike over their salaries. In April,
Mr Mugabe's Zanu (PF) party accused them of supporting the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) during the March elections and blamed them for the
President's first-round defeat.

Six teachers were murdered and thousands assaulted by Zanu (PF) militia in
the violence that marred the second-round presidential election on June 27.

Schools were looted and turned into torture centres. Teachers disappeared.
Many are still unable to return for fear of being disciplined.

Now the coup de grace to the education system is being delivered by
hyperinflation. Teachers had their salaries doubled last week to the equivalent
of £5.70 a month — barely enough for bus fares and bread for four days.

The handful of private and state schools where parents can pay large
supplements to teachers' salaries are the only ones operating. In most schools
where teachers do turn up pupil attendance is dwindling.

“We come to school and we entertain the kids until 10am, then we send them
home,” Amos Musoni, from Sengwe primary school in the south of the country,
said. “There were ten teachers last week, out of 32. They are there because they
have no money to leave. We don't even have chalk, or red pens, never mind
books.”

At one of Harare's government boys' high schools, benches are being sawn up
to provide wood for O-level woodwork examinations - not that anyone knows when
they will happen.

"O and A-level pupils go home next week to study for their finals,” the
headmaster said. “But there is no timetable. Nor do we have their June mid-year
results.”

Urban schools have been overwhelmed by water and power cuts. One primary
school in Mabvuku township, Harare, has not had water for five years. A Harare
girls' school has been seeking an axe to chop down trees for firewood to cook
food.

Providing school food at a time of comprehensive agricultural failure is a
struggle. Mr Majongwe said hundreds of rural schools had sent their boarders
home because they could no longer feed them.

Mr Musoni, from Sengwe, is pathetically thin. “There is no food,” he said.
“People are starving.” Students at Harare Polytechnic rioted last week after
they were served sadza, the stiff maize porridge that is the national staple,
without salt or cabbage.

The country's four leading universities have failed to open since the start
of their first term in mid-August. At the University of Zimbabwe, the country's
leading tertiary institute, a notice with last Friday's date on a faculty
building tells students that lectures will begin “on a date to be advised”.

Levy Nyagura, the Vice-Chancellor, said that the university had “no water, no
electricity and no funds”.

Ellen Murogodo, a would-be first-year social work student, keeps returning to
the campus to register only to be told to try again a week later. To pay for her
journey she sets up a stand outside the university's Great Hall where she sells
popcorn and cigarettes.

“Mugabe was a teacher himself [in the 1950s],” Mr Majongwe said. “He knows
the potential of teachers as agents for change. That is why he has deliberately
destroyed education.”

New talks on a power-sharing government in Zimbabwe failed yesterday to end a
stalemate over Cabinet posts, the opposition MDC said.

Comments

As a former teacher in Zimbabwe, it pains my
heart to see how the retrogressive policies of the Mugabe regime have destroyed
one of the key pillars of Zimbawean nation, its education system.

It
beggars belief that the despotic Mugabe regime remains impervious to calls for
change.

Chris Ncube, Rotherham, UK

At this rate they will be asking for us to
take over Zimbabwe again. Still even if we did overthrow Mugabe we would gain no
thanks for it - we would be accused of being imperialists - we tried to help
Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries and look what that has done to our
reputation.

Dan , Winchester, England

Dont worry Mugabe's daughter is been taught in
London .Phew. And most ministers children ,are all educated in the USA. All paid
for by looting the country.

Dully, London, UK

Having been one of the lucky recipients of an
excellent education in Zimbabwe, my heartfelt sympanthy goes out to those
students who are now being deprived of their basic human rights. The demise of
Mugabe is long overdue.

Lyn Harris, Eastbourne, UK

"But we leave our former colonies to rot.
Shame on us!!!!" -------------------------------------------------------
You got to be kidding. They wanted this. They don't want us there (the man
said so himself). Thay said they want to solve this the African way. Now let
them!

Jules, Cape Town, South Africa

It is disgusting to learn that a country that
was once the leading education nation has been destroyed by a man who has no
heart sympathy.

Their chioldren are learning overseas while we the youth
are starving and facing a tough time.

Now we are saying to Mugabe and
his now is the time

Tapiwa, harare, zimbabwe

And if you think we are suffering with the
credit crunch! Its only going to get worse in Zimbabwe!

It seems we
can go to war at the drop of a hat for a bit of oil.

But we leave our
former colonies to rot.

Shame on us!!!!

Simon, Bristol, England

A salient lesson to us all, of what harm and
murderous permanent damage psychopathic personalities like Mugabe will do with
sufficient power. He has no conscience, no restraint, no empathy for others. The
age old habit of tribalism does the rest. Tell me again: How is this better than
colonialism?

Donald McMiken, Canberra, Australia

I can hardly believe that on the same world
people in some countries can live such a miserable life!

Michael Zhu, wannian, China

As a high school teacher in California, I am
both saddened and encouraged. I am saddened by my colleague's plight in
Zimbabwe. But I am inspired by their heroic efforts to stay true to their
calling. If they can do that, then how much more can I, with all the resources
at my disposal!

Narcis , La Mirada, California, USA

What a terrible tragedy. Mugabe is destroying
his people. Having visited Zimbabwe I have seen the potential, the love of, and
the desire for, education which exists among Zimbabweans. Education alone can
help them rise above the circumstances the Zanu-PF dictatorship has created.
Tragic!

Paul Freeman, London, England

I cannot believe what I am reading here. Once
the best education in Africa, now nothing.

maggi, NSW, Australia

Man, this is catastrophic. Mugabe let the
education in his country go down the drain.

Deal on the brink of collapse, says Zanu-PF

IOL

October 08 2008 at 05:25PM

By Angus Shaw

Harare -
President Robert Mugabe's party accused the opposition on Wednesday of
putting troubled negotiations on power-sharing at risk of collapse by
speaking out on disputes that have stalled their talks.

After a
historic power-sharing deal was signed September 15, negotiations have
stalled on the allocation of ministerial posts in the proposed unity
government.

Zanu-PF officials also
have publicly discussed the talks, only to have their more upbeat
assessments disputed by the opposition.

"Negotiating in public will
lead to the negotiations failing," Chinamasa told reporters. "I don't
negotiate in public."

Opposition officials made
a brief appearance Wednesday to say consultations were continuing, but did
not address accusations they were undermining the negotiations.

Mugabe's party has said only two key ministries - home affairs, in charge of
the police, and finance - remain in dispute. But opposition negotiators say
most main Cabinet posts are still undecided and accuse Mugabe's party of
trying to hold on to too many important positions.

Main disputes so
far have been over who would control the police, defence, justice, finance,
foreign affairs, information and local government ministries.

Control of the security forces is particularly sensitive. Top generals have
said publicly they would never salute Tsvangirai.

Under the
agreement, Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, remains president
and head of the Cabinet. As prime minister Tsvangirai heads a council of
ministers - in effect, the Cabinet without Mugabe present -responsible for
government policies. Mugabe's party gets 15 Cabinet seats, Tsvangirai's
party gets 13 and a smaller breakaway opposition group led by Arthur
Mutamabara gets three.

If the agreement were to come into effect,
many of Mugabe's longest serving and most loyal colleagues and former
guerrilla leaders risk losing their jobs. - Sapa-AP

MDC spokesman says ZANU PF and MDC are still worlds apart

By Violet
Gonda8 October 2008

Negotiators were back to the drawing board
Wednesday to try and thrash out agreements over the allocation of cabinet
posts. But, as has become the norm, they resolved nothing. MDC spokesperson
Nelson Chamisa said ZANU PF is still resisting the issue of sharing the
ministries and governors.

Chamisa said: "If we were centimeters apart we
are now meters apart. The zone of difference seems to be growing by the day.
In fact ZANU PF's perspective is quite different from us. We are worlds
apart. We don't think that they are genuine in this deal and not interested
and they want to play games with the people of Zimbabwe."

Chamisa
said the MDC is referring the matter to SADC and the African Union. But many
analysts believe the only way forward is for the MDC to pull out of the
controversial and dishonest talks with ZANU PF.

With Zimbabweans
desperate for a solution many questions are beginning to be raised as to why
the MDC continues to wait for ZANU PF, and does not flex their
muscles.

On Wednesday MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai had called for a
press briefing on the stalled negotiations at his house in Harare, but the
conference was cancelled last minute because ZANU PF called for yet another
round of negotiations.

This is the second time in recent days that
the MDC leader has cancelled a report-back session, leaving some analysts to
believe the MDC are just being played with by ZANU PF, which quickly resumes
discussions when it appears the MDC is pulling out.

Meanwhile ZANU PF
officials are criticising the MDC for 'putting the power-sharing talks at
risk by speaking publicly about the negotiations." But Zanu PF officials
such as Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche have issued statements in the
state media on the status of the talks and it was Robert Mugabe who said, on
his return from a UN summit in New York; "We discussed the ministries the
day before I left. There were four left which we referred to our negotiators
to discuss."When asked about the criticism from ZANU PF, the MDC
spokesperson said if there is nothing to hide, ZANU PF would not be worried
about the statements being made to the public.

Journalist Tanonoka
Hwande says there is "absolutely nothing" in the power sharing agreement
that the MDC should have signed; "It's all ZANU PF language, it's all ZANU
PF intentions and it's all the things that ZANU PF has been doing during the
last 28 years."

He went on to ask: "So what I would like to know from
Tendai Biti and Mr. Tsvangirai and everyone else is what was in that
document that the MDC felt was necessary to put their signatures
on?"

Zimbabwe is at a standstill and some people are increasingly
critical of the MDC for what they are saying is its inability to see
opportunities and to capitalise on them.

Another observer, speaking
on condition of anonymity said: 'In Zimbabwe, politics is the art of
postponing decisions until they are no longer
relevant."

Maruziva will appear in court in November on charges
of publishing "false statements prejudicial to the state" because of an
article written by an opposition leader that appeared in his weekly, The
Standard.

Under Robert Mugabe's 28-year autocratic rule,
independent voices like Maruziva's newspaper - one of three that are not
state controlled - have little space. Printing presses are regularly blown
up, foreign news organisations banned and journalists harassed, beaten and
jailed.

One journalist was killed in 2008 and scores have been
arrested.

Hope for change was raised in
September when Mugabe signed a power-sharing agreement with the opposition
to end Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis.

But
politicians deadlocked over sharing Cabinet posts have yet to turn the
September agreement into reality.

The accord promises to open up
the air waves, allowing "as many media houses as possible," and calls for
public media to provide "balanced and fair" coverage of all political
parties.

Currently, there is only one state-run television station
and no independent radio stations.

But many feel the deal did
not go far enough to protect media freedoms and is unlikely to end the
state's propaganda machine.

"There is nothing to celebrate," said
Maruziva.

Media organisations are calling for repealing all laws
that target the media, the withdrawal of charges against journalists and for
the immediate granting of permission to foreign news organisations to work
in the country.

"We were expecting to see something more radical,"
said Takura Zhangazha, director of Zimbabwe's chapter of the Media Institute
of Southern Africa.

Zhangazha said the continued control of the
state media by Mugabe's party will not "build confidence" in the
power-sharing deal.

Iden Wetherell, group editor of The Standard
and its sister paper, the weekly Zimbabwe Independent, said there is a
"hunger for news" in the country.

His papers offer criticism of
Mugabe and his government not found on air or in the state-controlled The
Herald, the largest national daily. The independent press also gives space
to the opposition and doesn't shy away from detailing the country's economic
decline.

"Our duty, our job is to tell it as it is. In that
situation we do our best," Wetherell said.

Running a newspaper
in Zimbabwe, like running any business in a country facing an inflation rate
of about 11-million percent a year, is tough. There is little advertising to
rely on.

The Zimbabwe Independent costs Zim$3 000 (about R) or
between 70 US cents and $2 depending on various rates. The Herald hiked its
prices this week up from Zim$1 500 to 3 000.

"Fewer people are
able to read us because of the cost," Wetherell said. He declined to reveal
circulation figures.

The papers comply with media laws and its
small staff of about 20 journalists are officially accredited. Yet the
papers have been charged with numerous infractions.

The Daily
News, which challenged the sweeping media laws in court and refused to
register with the government, was closed down by the government in
2003.

The paper boasted circulation of 800 000 and reached rural
communities in Mugabe's party strongholds and not just an educated urban
population sympathetic to the opposition. Before its closure, it had offices
bombed, staff detained and computers confiscated.

Zimbabwe
Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu nonetheless insisted his government
was commitment to a free press.

"I am an ally of the press. We are
proponents of press freedom," he told The Associated Press on
Tuesday.

"We are waiting for an all inclusive government to be in
place. You can't just have an agreement and say that is the
law."

He accused the independent media of bias toward the
opposition, while saying the public media were there to "serve
everyone."

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which has
said it would repeal repressive media laws if it gained power, has accused
the state of jeopardising the power-sharing agreement by using the public
media to denounce its rivals. - Sapa-AP

Zimbabweans
must be responsible - Zuma

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's ruling Africa National Congress
(ANC) President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday said Zimbabwe politicians needed to
stop quarrelling and rather work towards fixing the problems in the
country.

Speaking at a briefing with South African black business
representatives in Sandton, Zuma said there was a serious crisis in
Zimbabwe.

"We have a problem in Zimbabwe," he said. "At times we feel a
little bit worried that the Zimbabweans themselves don't seem to appreciate
the problem, the damage done to the country."

"We are hoping they
will be able to resolve the matter as Zimbabweans instead of arguing about
which ministry goes where; will be talking about how to take the country out
of difficulty."

The political parties Zanu-PF and the Movement for
Democratic Change have failed to implement a power sharing deal signed last
month after contested elections in the country.

Zuma said South
Africa and the ANC supported the Zimbabweans.

"We are with them. but
there is a point at which we cannot be with them".

Zuma said it was
important to acknowledge the work former president Thabo Mbeki had done for
Zimbabwe.

He said for a long time Mbeki was under attack for apparently
adopting a policy of silent diplomacy.

"He handled the most complex
and difficult negotiations and finally succeeded to bring the parties
together. producing an African solution.

"He is the one who understands
the intricacies of the agreement. He should continue and we support that
fully," said Zuma.

Power deal out of touch with reality: civic
groups

JOHANNESBURG - The National
Constitutional Assembly says the power-sharing deal signed last month
between Zanu PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) fails to
capture the will of the people as expressed in the March 29
polls.

Leading civic organizations in South Africa meeting at the
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) offices in Johannesburg have
expressed deep concern over the deal's shortcomings.

They said it
appears the deal had left President Mugabe with too much of the executive
powers he has enjoyed over the past 28 years.

The meeting was attended,
among others, by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Creative Writers and Arts
Workshop, Zimbabwe Political Victims Association, Revolutionary Youth
Movement and the Veterans Activists Association.

An NCA official
reiterated that just like the referendum rejected in 2000 for its emphasis
on the powers of the president, this deal had done exactly the same thing
and was proposing the same arrangement in the constitution, which will be
looked at as soon as the power-sharing cabinet is sworn in, if
ever.

"In 2000 we rejected the proposed constitution as we believed
the process of making that constitution was flawed and the same scenario is
being suggested today that the constitution be authored for the people by
the parliament," Tapera Kapuya of the NCA.

"As the NCA we will
mobilize against such kinds of constitution making that fail to consider
that people are equally responsible of writing their own laws."

The
meeting also noted that the constitutional committee to be derived from the
Parliament (joint sitting of House of Assembly and Senate) would be
dominated by Zanu PF, a party that lost a popular mandate according to the
29 March polls.

The deal was also dismissed for its failure to
address the justice system especially the victims of Gukurahundi,
Murambatsvina and post 29 March violence.

Kapuya said that the
proposed government was unnecessarily ballooned as well as
unworkable.

"The deal proposed a Prime Minister whose cabinet will be
chaired by the President and this is equally puzzling because one cannot see
the justification of a Prime Minister when he cannot chair a cabinet."

Zanu PF Minister implicated in food aid scandal

By Tichaona Sibanda7
October 2008

The ZANU PF MP for Umguza, Obert Mpofu, is allegedly behind
a massive food aid scandal where maize meant for starving villagers is being
sold on the black market or in some cases bartered for cattle in his
constituency.

The outgoing Minister of Industry and International Trade
is said to be at the heart of a syndicate overseen by the ward 13 councillor
in his constituency, Ernest Sibanda. Our Bulawayo correspondent Lionel
Saungweme said evidence has emerged that truckloads of maize from the Grain
Marketing Board were being diverted to Sibanda's homestead.

'Once in
position of the food aid, Sibanda and his gang would in turn sell the maize
on the black market. In most cases they barter the maize for cattle from
desperate villagers,' Saungweme said.During the March elections a truck
carrying 30 tonnes of maize disappeared in the province and follow up
investigations by a government task force of the CIO, police and ZANU PF
officials led to the doorsteps of Sibanda.

'He was found in possession of
the stolen maize and Mpofu blocked the authorities from taking any action
against him. To get rid of the evidence, the maize load was distributed to
ZANU PF card carrying members only from the constituency,' Saungweme
said.

There are allegations this was a pre-planned manoevure by the
Minister and Sibanda as it meant the free gifts of maize to the villagers
helped prop up Mpofu's image and his candidature. He was re-elected MP for
the constituency.

Food aid has been a contentious issue in the
country for a number of years. The Zanu PF regime has accused humanitarian
organisations of collaborating with the MDC and of being intermediaries of
Western countries allegedly opposed to ZANU PF policies.

But the
NGO's and the MDC have reported that the regime has used state controlled
food supplies as blackmail to extort votes from the electorate. Our
correspondent said the latest scandal shows that ZANU PF officials are
stripping bare all GMB depots with impunity and making huge profits from
selling the maize on the black market.

Grade 7 exams delayed as government urged to cancel academic year

By Alex
Bell08 October 2008

Zimbabwe's 2008 academic year, already marred by
the effects of the political and humanitarian crises in the country, is on
the brink of being cancelled - as Zimbabwe's October/November exams have
been delayed.

The Progressive Teacher's Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) on
Wednesday confirmed a report by the government mouthpiece paper The Herald,
which stated that Grade 7 exams have been delayed, while the Zimbabwe School
Examinations Council still needs to dispatch timetables and examination
material to schools.

School exams were meant to begin on Monday in
order for results to be released in December, but teachers across the
country have yet to receive timetables or even confirmation about when the
exam period will start. At the same time, the results of the June exams have
yet to released. There are now doubts that exams will get underway this
year, and the government is facing increasing pressure to call the academic
year off and give students the opportunity to prepare for the 2009
exams.

According to teaching unions, over 4 million pupils have had an
estimated total of only 23 uninterrupted days in the classroom, since the
school year began in January. Zimbabwe's once successful and admirable
education system has in the past two years completely collapsed - with many
schools last year recording a zero pass rate, amid a countrywide pass rate
of a mere 11 percent.

In January teachers went on a prolonged strike
over their salaries and inApril, Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party accused them
of supporting the MDC during the March elections and blamed them in part for
Mugabe's first-round defeat. The PTUZ said that at least six teachers were
murdered and thousands assaulted by ZANU PF militia in the violence that
marred the second-round presidential election on June 27.

With the
2008 academic year already severely interrupted and with children receiving
little to no education over the year, the PTUZ earlier this month sent
letters to the authorities urging them to postpone the exams or even declare
2008 a forgotten year.

The Union's Secretary General, Raymond Majongwe,
told Newsreel on Wednesday the confirmed delay of the Grade 7 Exams is a
"vindication of what we have been saying all along, and that is the exam
board is not ready, just as the students are not ready." He explained that
it would be criminal for the government to push through students whose
education has been badly effected by the political crisis in the country,
and emphasized that starting afresh in 2009 "will give Zimbabwe's youth more
opportunity to succeed."

Meanwhile, the country's four leading
universities have failed to open since the start of their first term in
August. At the University of Zimbabwe, a notice on a faculty building tells
students that lectures will begin "on a date to be
advised".

Mbeki
Expected In Harare

HARARE, October 8, 2008 - Former South African
president Thabo Mbeki is expected to arrive in Harare on Wednesday after the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) asked for the facilitator of
the Zimbabwean crisis to be called in to solve the prevailing impasse on the
allocation of key ministerial posts.

Mbeki was
appointed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to mediate in
the Zimbabwean crisis. The new government in South Africa headed by Kgalme
Monthlate has supported the Southern African Development Community's
decision to have Mbeki to continue with his mediation role.

It is reliably understood that Mbeki was initially expected in Harare
Tuesday night but his flight was cancelled. A red carpet had been laid out
for him at the Rainbow Towers, the usual venue for the negotiations. The
carpert was removed late last night after word filtered that the former
South African's arrival had been postponed to Wednesday
afternoon.

Sources said Mbeki will now arrive on a South Africa
Airways afternoon flight from Johannesburg and would hold closed-door
discussions with President Robert Mugabe, and opposition leaders Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara.

There has been a breakdown
of talks between President Mugabe and Tsvangirai over the sharing of key
ministerial posts. ZANU PF and MDC negotiators failed to agree when they met
in Harare on Tuesday.

On Saturday Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara, the leader of the smaller faction of the MDC, met at Zimbabwe
House but also failed to reach an agreement on which party gets what post in
the envisaged government of national unity.

While
government spin-doctors insist the deadlock is on two posts, namely Home
Affairs and Finance, MDC officials claim ZANU PF was demanding all the 15
powerful ministries.

There is also deadlock on the 10 posts of governors. Mugabe
has already appointed ZANU PF officials to the 10 posts but the MDC factions
want these shared equally by the three political parties.

However Eldred Masunungure, a professor of Political Science at the
University of Zimbabwe said: "He (Mbeki) has lost some of his shine so I
think it will be difficult for him to find a solution now that he is a lame
duck mediator or facilitator after he was stripped of the South African
presidency."

Chombo threatens Mutare mayor

MDC Information and Publicity
Department

8 October, 2008

Zvimba North MP Ignatius Chombo, a
legendary enemy of democracy, has once again threatened the elected mayor of
Mutare, His Worship Brian James, for refusing to install losing Zanu PF
stalwarts as special interest councillors.

Chombo phoned the mayor of
Tuesday and threatened him and the 11 democratically elected councillors
with dismissal if they did not install Zanu PF bigwigs Esau Mupfumi and
Misheck Mugadza as councillors.

Mugadza is the former chairman of the
Mutare Council Commission while Mupfumi is a member of Zanu PF's central
committee.

The Mutare Mayor refused to swear in the pair because Chombo
was imposing them as special interest councillors when they did not bring in
any special expertise or add value to the popularly elected MDC-dominated
council.

Chombo continues to meddle with council decisions in most cities
and towns yet he is not a Cabinet minister. There is no legitimate
government in Zimbabwe at the moment and the nation is eagerly awaiting the
conclusion of inter-party talks so that an inclusive government can begin to
respond to the needs of the people.

Chombo cannot abuse his former
position by appointing Zanu PF losing candidates in the last election as
"special councillors" to subvert the sovereign will of the people who voted
for the MDC.

By appointing these Zanu PF losing candidates as special
councillors, Chombo, is declaring war on democracy, to the people of
Zimbabwe, the spirit of togetherness and the MoU signed by the three
parties. He cannot be allowed to do that.

The MDC controls all
urban local authorities and Chombo is making sure that the day-to-day
operations of the MDC councils are disrupted. Zanu PF is using a dubious
quota system to bring in "special" councillors, especially Zanu PF losing
candidates, which in most cases have enabled them to reverse the MDC's
majority in most rural council chambers.

We cannot allow democracy to be
subverted at this stage. In March, the people of Zimbabwe voted for what
they believe in. Chombo cannot unilaterally reverse what the people want.
The MDC calls upon the people of Zimbabwe to reject and resist Chombos'
manoeuvres.

What the people have built, let no man put asunder. The
people are the ultimate victors.

MP's criticized for requesting cash withdrawal limit exemptions

By Lance
Guma08 October 2008

The Zimbabwe Youth Forum has criticized Members
of Parliament who sought to be exempted from the Z$20 000 cash withdrawal
limit imposed by the central bank. The MP's argued during a 2 day
parliamentary induction course that began on Monday that they needed to use
their personal money to assist their constituencies in times of grief. 'The
call by the MPs to be given a privilege to withdraw more money than ordinary
people leaves us to think that MP's are now representing their personal
interests at the expense of the electorate,' the Youth Forum statement read.
They argued that MP's should have instead called for a complete overhaul of
the financial system rather than piecemeal concessions to special interest
groups or individuals.

The MP's have been urged to, 'show solidarity with
the oppressed masses by joining the long queues for them to have a feeling
of the severity of the economic situation.' The MP's will then be able to
fight in parliament to ensure that cash queues are a thing of the
past.

The induction course for the MP's has raised eyebrows, given that
an impasse over cabinet between the MDC and ZANU PF persists and there is no
functioning government. During the opening of parliament in August Mugabe
was heckled by MDC legislators, sparking fury from ZANU PF. The induction
course is seen as an attempt by ZANU PF to coach the MDC on 'how to debate'
in parliament.

Meanwhile, while everyone else queues up at the banks
for scarce money, cash barons, allegedly aligned to Gideon Gono the RBZ
governor, are seen dealing with billions of revalued dollars on the street.
According to the Youth Forum such amounts, 'require more than a century of
continuous daily withdrawals,' and yet these barons have brand new notes in
abundance straight from the central bank.

Money sending companies
operating from the diaspora have stopped sending money to Zimbabwe in local
dollars. The cancellation of electronic bank transfers by the RBZ has meant
companies cannot deposit money into the bank accounts of their customers'
recipients in Zimbabwe. Only transactions in forex are being conducted. A
money sender told Newsreel that demand for the local currency service was
low anyway, because of the chronic cash shortages. But there remain a
sizeable number of people who still wanted the money remitted in Zimbabwe
dollars and this new problem will create even more difficulties for hard
pressed Zimbabweans.

South
Africa stops issuing asylum permits

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's Home Affairs department is said to
have stopped issuing asylum permits to Zimbabweans seeking political refugee
status in that country, basing on broadcasts by that country's
government-owned electronic media that a power-sharing deal signed by
Zimbabwean political leaders three weeks ago has solved the country's
political problems.

On September 15, President Robert Mugabe signed
an agreement to share power with Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara of
the fractured opposition Movement for Democratic Change, but they have so
far failed to resolve a deadlock over the sharing of cabinet posts that will
finalise the formation of a national unity government.

However, the
South African Home Affairs department, especially at its Johannesburg Asylum
Determination Centre, popularly known as Crown Mines, has been accused of
rejecting asylum applications by Zimbabweans since last week, claiming that
the country's political crisis has been resolved by the deal.

Most
Zimbabwean asylum seekers who spoke to The Zimbabwe Times on Wednesday said
that their applications had been turned down by the South African
authorities, who told them to "go back and re-build Zimbabwe", without
properly weighing their cases and considering their safety problems in
their home country.

"I went to Crown Mines on Thursday last week and,
after sleeping in the open for two days awaiting for my turn to be served,
the officials rejected my claim, saying that there is no more crisis in
Zimbabwe. They gave me a temporary permit which indicates that my
application has been rejected and stating that I should leave South Africa
or appeal their decision within 30 days. They did not give me a chance to
explain my situation to them, saying that they have had enough of our
political situation," said Thulani Moyo, afreelance
journalist.

According to documents shown to our correspondent by some
failed asylum seekers, the Home Affairs department's decision is based on
the assumption that the political situation in Zimbabwe has improved since
September 15 and thus, there is no more need for Zimbabweans to be granted
asylum in South Africa.

"This signals a stable positive change in
Zimbabwean political affairs which were engulfed by brutality and extreme
violence. SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) News Website
reported on the 12th of September that Robert Mugabe of Zanu PF and MDC's
Morgan Tsvangirai had reached an agreement, '' read part of a three-page
report shown to our correspondent by one failed asylum seekers.

The
more fortunate among the asylum seekers were given temporary permits valid
for 30 days, during which they should either appeal or return to Zimbabwe.
Apparently, the department hopes that after 30 days, the Zimbabwean
politicians will have resolved their differences and formed the anticipated
national unity government - giving it valid reasons for permanently
rejecting the applications.

The officials are also said to have reduced
the number of asylum seekers they serve per day from an average of 300
people to about 50.

Human rights organisations have blasted the
department, arguing that their "fast tracked" decision was uncalled for and
their reasons for denying permits to desperate Zimbabweans were unfounded as
they were based on media reports that might be biased.

"The decision
lacks substance and is unfortunate. People should not be treated like toys
by fellow African states. We are talking about human lives which are being
threatened on the basis of their political affiliation and in terms of the
refugee Act. The Zimbabweans have a valid reason for being here," said
Gabriel Shumba of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum.

Home Affairs Department
spokesperson, Siobhan McCarthy once again denied that her department was
rejecting applications from the Zimbabweans.

"It is not true that we have
stopped issuing permits to Zimbabweans because even if things improve in
that country, asylum permits will still be issued out to them if they
provide valid reasons," she said.

Since the beginning their country's
political and economic crisis, largely blamed on the populist policies of
Mugabe and his intolerance for opposing views, most ordinary Zimbabweans
have crossed the borders both legally and illegally into neighbouring
countries to seek better life and protection from political
persecution.

There are an estimated three million Zimbabweans living and
working in South Africa alone. The influx is likely to experience a further
upsurge in the coming months, following reports that the country's already
critical food situation will continue to worsen due to poor yields of both
wheat and the staple maize grain.

Zimbabwe: No government, no school - and annual inflation at two trillion
percent

As worrisome, alarming, unsettling, scary or [choose your adjective] as the
spreading, worldwide financial crisis and its effects may be, try this statistic
on for size: Thanks largely to the policies of its longtime dictator-president,
Robert Mugabe, who barely "won" a run-off election in June, his "once-prosperous nation" in southern Africa is now "crumbling
under inflation" that is "the highest in the world"; at an annualized rate, it's
now running at two trillion percent.

We'll write that figure again to help it sink in.

Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate is now running at two trillion percent.

September 29, 2008: Zimbabwe's longtime dictator-president,
Robert Mugabe (right, in sunglasses), arrived at Harare airport after a trip to
the United Nations in New York

Steve H. Hanke, a leading specialist in what economists refer to as
"exchange-rate regimes," notes in research findings published by the Cato Institute, a
Washington-based think tank, that Zimbabwe has become the first country in the
still-young 21st century to "hyperinflate." Explanation: "In February 2007,
Zimbabwe's inflation rate topped 50% per month, the minimum rate required to
qualify as a hyperinflation (50% per month is equal to a 12,875% per year).
Since then, inflation has soared." Zimbabwe's central bank has not been very
forthcoming with its own official data concerning inflation. Thus, it has become
considerably difficult for foreign economists who are trying to monitor the
country's crisis "to quantify the depth and breadth of the still-growing crisis
in Zimbabwe." (Cato
Institute, via AllAfrica.com)

To address this problem, Hanke, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, "has
developed the Hanke Hyperinflation Index for Zimbabwe (HHIZ). This new metric is
derived from market-based price data and is presented in [an] accompanying table
for the January 2007-to-present period." (Hanke's findings and that data chart
are available here, on
the Cato Institute's website.) According to Hanke's calculations, as of late
last week, Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate was two trillion percent."

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic
Change, the party that opposes Mugabe, is in negotiations with the dictator to
form a proposed coalition government

Mugabe and supporters of his ZANU-PF party had done their best to intimidate
backers of the opposing Movement for Democratic Change party in the period
leading up to the first round of voting in Zimbabwe's presidential election this
year; that round took place at the end of March. The intimidation continued
during the run-up to the run-off vote in June. Last month came the news that
Mugabe would be willing to cut a power-sharing deal with his rival, Morgan
Tsvangirai, the head of the MDC.

However, as of yesterday, ongoing talks between the ZANU-PF and the MDC
appeared to be stalling, with the two sides unable to agree on how cabinet posts
in a prospective coalition government would be divided up. Yesterday, one of
Tsvangirai's senior aides told Reuters: "There's no progress, there's a clear
deadlock. We met again today but couldn't move the process forward."
Reuters notes that, under an "outline agreement" the two sides
have been discussing, "Mugabe would retain the presidency and chair the cabinet,
while Tsvangirai would head a council of ministers supervising the cabinet.
Without a breakthrough, Zimbabwe's economy could worsen still further."

In March of this year, a Zimbabwean school teacher, along with
his wife and son, purchased a loaf of bread for the price of eight million
Zimbabwean dollars. A British newspaper reports: "Teachers had their salaries
doubled last week to the equivalent of [U.S.$9.93] a month - barely enough for
bus fares and bread for four days."

In response to the out-of-control inflation rate, Zimbabwe's current,
not-quite-a-government government has allowed some shops and fuel stations to
receive payments for the merchandise they sell in so-called hard, foreign
currency. "The officially sanctioned launch of hard-currency shops follows a
well-established trend of dollarization in the battered Zimbabwean economy. Many
goods are offered in the parallel or black market only for hard currencies, and
many landlords demand rents in [foreign exchange]. Meanwhile, banks were running
out of local currency despite the introduction last week by [Zimbabwe's central
bank] of notes in higher denominations" of $10,000 and $20,000 Zimbabwean
dollars. (Voice of America)

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's school system is in a crisis, too. Britain's Times reports: "The class of 2008 will not receive an
education. Since the school year began in January, Zimbabwe's 4.5 million pupils
have had a total of 23 days uninterrupted in the classroom, teaching unions say
- a sorry state for a country that once had the highest standard of education in
Africa....As with most of the country's infrastructure, that system is now in
the process of total collapse....To avoid the humiliation of total failure in
2008, the government has canceled the academic year....In January, teachers went
on a prolonged strike over their salaries. In April, [Mugabe's ZANU-PF party]
accused them of [having] support[ed] the Movement for Democratic Change...during
the March [run-off] elections and blamed them for the president's first-round
defeat. Six teachers were murdered and thousands assaulted by ZANU-PF militia in
the violence that marred the second-round presidential election on June 27.
Schools were looted and turned into torture centers. Teachers disappeared. Many
are still unable to return for fear of being disciplined....Teachers had their
salaries doubled last week to the equivalent of [U.S.$9.93] a month - barely
enough for bus fares and bread for four days."

"We'd rather starve than live under white colonialism". The average black
lived better under Ian Smith and Rhodesian segregation than they do today.
Rhodesia was the breadbasket of Southern Africa. It's neighbor, South Africa has
degenerated into crime, overpopulation and poverty. But, the world financial
community has gotten access to their gold, diamonds, chromium, tantalum, uranium
etc, with the help of all the "concerned" idiots wearing their "fight
apartheid-boycott South Africa" t-shirts.

Posted By: klondyke | October 08 2008 at 07:26 AM

It's unfortunate that the first to comment here happens to be a bitter
apologist for apartheid, screaming "idiot" at those who disagree with him. In
fact the comparison between Zimbabwe and South Africa is utterly disingenuous:
their post-Colonial paths couldn't be more different. While South Africa has
certainly had a terrible time reigning in violent crime, Zimbabwe's problems are
of a more basic nature: it's unlucky enough to be run by a pathetic,
old-fashioned despot. The suggestion that this somehow proves colonialism was
preferable is naïve and misguided.

Posted By: ewestby | October 08 2008 at 09:16 AM

"We'll write that figure again to help it sink in." Gosh, what a big, big,
number! There is no meaning to two trillion percent inflation. Their currency is
worthless, period, unless you are carrying a shotgun.

Alliance
needed to demand RG's resignation

THE SIGNS of Armageddon are everywhere. Can't you see them? They
are printing money at supersonic speed on bond paper. Has the MDC
noticed?

Officially, inflation is 11 million per cent. Experts say it's
531 billion percent. Let's do the math. Put the thirteen zeros the Reserve
Bank removed in 2003 and 2008 back and US$1 equals ZW$10 000 000 000 000.
Now add six zeros that have accrued since the last 'slash-and-burn' and it
becomes ZW$10 000 000 000 000 000 000.

Ever heard of the song 'Please
help us, we are starving' sung each time you call home? Hungry yes, but
where the hell is the anger? I see why. I am feeding the terriers, so there
is no hunger to motivate them to chase the prey.

History shows that
hunger begets anger. More math. Anger + hunger = fearlessness. Even more
math. Fear of Mugabe > fear of hunger = not hunger for change. The
reverse equation is: Fear of hunger > fear of Mugabe = hunger for change.
The latter hasn't happened in Zimbabwe, hence adult men and women stand and
sleep in queues just to get their ZW$20 000 (0,001 US cents).

So now
the RBZ has suspended the Real Time Gross System (RTGS). Meaning simply that
if I send money to your account today, you will wait at least 48 hours
before you receive it. Meantime it will be getting more worthless.

So why
have money?

Still, last week the urbanites demanded their money,
rejecting the daily withdrawal limit of ZW$10 000 for ZW$20 000. The RBZ
obliged by printing a neat ZW$20 000 note. Typical of a government that
listens to its people!

Wait! Except the new 'money' is printed on bond
paper without any watermark. "I am not afraid of printing money", says
Gideon Your Governor Gono, "and I will continue doing so until those who
imposed sanctions on us lift them".

Translation? If you send your
hard-earned 22-hour shift money to a relative in Zimbabwe, he will change it
for useless scrap of paper. Someone with a color-copier and printer in Mbare
is busy right now, minting a nice new ZW$20 000 bills.

Go on, send
your money.

The same money we send to our relatives, Mugabe uses to buy
guns in China (remember that notorious ship, the 'An Yue Jiang?') or goes on
a 50-strong New York shopping spree kindly organised by Chief of Protocol,
Munyaradzai Kajese. The weapons equip the militias to murder, rape, and
torture the same relatives you sent money to, who changed it for useless
bond paper. The forex that could be used to buy drugs, food, and farm inputs
comes back to buy trinkets for the First Lady and her plane-load of
relatives in the shop next door, in Manhattan. Yeah, what goes around comes
around, right?

Oh, sorry to interrupt you my friend. Please close this
window and rush to Western Union and send that money before they close. They
tell me the rate is very good today.

Don't mind the recession, honey.
Every major economy in the world bailing out banks, insurance companies and
real estate firms and all that', it won't happen to CABS.

Meanwhile
the crowds are swirling and swerving outside the bank, still fighting for
cash, while the politicians (the MDC) is busy with the cabinet
issue.

Including finance! So where will the 'aid' and 'investment'
come from when the big companies that invest overseas are being 'bailed out'
in America and Europe?

I mean, what sickens me is the lack of outrage
among Zimbabwe's urbanites over the thugs causing their physical misery, and
my financial pain when I send money.

Or is it cowardice?

Now
back to recession. If I am so angry at this urban cowardice, what about
taxpayers abroad, in the midst of a recession, whose money the adult urban
men and women back in Zimbabwe view as 'western aid'?

As I write,
many Americans and South Africans are losing their homes because they can't
pay their mortgages. These are the people who donate to charity, money that
NGOs back home use to buy food for our folks, which is then hi-jacked by
some politicians.

Stock is losing value, so people are pulling their
money off the market before they lose more. The governments are sinking into
budget deficits to save big corporations from collapse. These are the
companies that invest abroad.

These are the sources of bilateral
aid.

Point: We Zimbabweans expect too much from this outside world in a
time of recession, but never ask ourselves what the world expects of
us?

One Kenyan told me to my face recently: "You guys are cowards. In
Kenya we would not allow that madness."

A few caveats. Those who were
not content with Mugabe took the courage to deny him the pleasure of their
labor and intellect. Those inside Zimbabwe who are not content with Mugabe
are not at work as we speak. The villagers were chased into mountains during
the infamous solo election in June, and then began to fight
back.

What's lacking is the joining of the Diaspora, the urbanites, and
villagers spontaneously to demand change. The urbanites are the weak point.
They usually engage in mass action with their eyes firmly on the
clock.

So long as the reason for striking is a better salary, the state
will simply print and pay, buy time, and meanwhile disrupt the momentum
until inflation wipes out the increment and the state prints more money
again.

It's not the salary, stupid!

Maybe the urbanites aren't
hungry enough! One cardinal rule that governs all living things is that no
food = death. We're getting close: shops empty, prices soaring, cholera
spreading, no food, drugs, no doctors, no nurses, no teachers.

So
distracted has the MDC been that it cannot see the miracle that is the first
sign of Armageddon: the urbanites finally breaking out of their cowardly
shells to mass in downtown Harare, if only to queue meekly at the
ATMs.

The MDC has fallen prey to the same tactics that Ian Smith used
against Zanu and Zapu, especially with détente in 1974-5: namely, the
regime's tactics of using talks to deflate the momentum of the democratic
struggle.

The MDC could have cashed in on these bread-and-butter-inspired
risings of discontent if it had not gone to bed with the causer of such
disaffection. Instead it deliberately and unwisely shut out civic society
and labor from participation in its ill-fated détente with Zanu-PF and
abdicated its proper role: of coordinating and channeling these angers into
a collective force for a democratic revolution.

How many times did
the MDC, the NCA, or ZCTU call for a mass stay-away and people flocked to
work? Is there a better opportunity to pull out of this farcical deal and
demand total change?

ZINWA’s house in absolute disarray

08 October
2008

ZINWA like most or all other government
parastatal must have a board as the supreme advisory structure and which
determine the direction and the constant evaluation of the technical staff at
the helm of the organization. At this critical juncture, amid the turbulent
storms of the parastatal’s chronic failure to provide water to the city of
Harare residents
and Zimbabweans at large, CHRA is informed that the ZINWA board was dissolved
together with the cabinet in the run up to the March 29 harmonized elections. Mr
Muyambo, the ZINWA C.E.O is currently at the helm of the beleaguered institution
which has been characterized by a reputation of incompetence since its inception
in 2006.

The absence of leadership at ZINWA which
already suffer lack of capacity and acceptance has compounded the residents`
water and sewer management woes since the level of leadership that remains has
limitations in decision making. The water body has experienced massive
brain-drain because of its failure to competitively remunerate workers. The few
workers remaining at ZINWA are also reluctant to work as there is no adequate
protective clothing and vaccines to protect them from contracting diseases. This
situation has seen most high density suburbs in Harare being infested with raw sewerage due to
unfixed burst sewer pipes.

The defacto deputy Minister of Water and
Infrastructural Development has been calling for stakeholder involvement by
ZINWA thus acknowledging the parastatal’s failure. He has desperately tried to
divert the attention of residents from the calamities that ZINWA has brought on
Harare through
suggesting these cosmetic suggestions. CHRA maintains that this is something he
should have been done two years ago. Politicians must swallow their pride and
admit that the decision to hand over the administration of water and sewer
reticulation services to ZINWA was disastrous in the least. If playing the blame
game is all that the Minister can do, then that puts his credibility on the
line. Residents demand long term solutions among which is the return of water
and sewer management to the local authority.

The Combined Harare Residents Association
would like to call upon the national political leaders to find a solution to the
water crisis in the city of Harare and across the country. The crisis has
seen residents plagued with a multi-faceted political and socio-economic crisis,
resulting in outbreaks of diseases caused by water shortages and failure to
access medical attention because of a number of related issues. CHRA membership
has had frustrating experiences with ZINWA where the water authority has either
shunned to attend meetings organized by residents or simply ignored their
complaints. The few times that ZINWA has responded to residents’ calls for
meetings, junior staff who cannot fully respond to issues has represented the
authority.

Harare residents have
consistently called for the return of water and sewer management to the city of
Harare local
authority and have already challenged the councilors and Members of Parliament
to push for the reversal of the ZINWA takeover. The current dire water crisis
and lack of effective sewer management which has resulted in scores of people
dying and the rest constantly facing the risk of cholera and other related
illnesses continue unabated and the residents need the brunt offloaded their
shoulders while ZINWA has more internal than external problems to deal with. The
parastatal can not deliver; suffice to say that the critical services it
purportedly offers should be assigned accordingly.

The power sharing agreement who needed it most

Gibson
Nyambayo

Following the historic signing of the power sharing
agreement, a lot has been said and written. A lot of questions have been
asked. A lot of answers have been given. Still a lot of unanswered questions
remain.

There is confusion. There is hope in the confusion. People have
suffered. They have suffered enough. They want a respite now. They are now
tired of the political bickering by their leaders. They need their lives
back. They want their dignity back. They want their sacred rights to be
respected, with or without a deal.

People know ,they know for sure
that someone benefited from the power deal. They are yet to see the benefit
themselves, if ever that is going to happen. They all are bound by the same
thin thread of hope, a hope for a better future. Hope in a hopeless
situation.

There seems to be some agreement, some agreement that
the deal is one sided. A few will benefit from it. The epicenter of all
these disagreements and confusion is the subject of my analysis. A few have
wrote about it. Very few are willing to do so. Many fear they will be
branded chronic pessimists. The analysis will be centered on the question
central to this. The big question is: Who needed and benefited from the
deal? A few have wrote on this subject. .

Whilst not taking
anything from Zimbabwean media people, it is unfortunate and equally
disturbing that none in the media fraternity took his or her time to analyse
the forces behind the three parties to the signing of the September 15
2008.

I will take my time to analyse all the parties to the deal
and all those who made it possible. With all due respect to the mediator, I
will not mince my words on his part, he lost it, both here and home. In
match language, he lost home and away.

The People Of
Zimbabwe

They are the biggest losers. After speaking through
their ballots in March that they wanted a change of administration. The
people's will was usurped by the military junta after the March 29
elections. The masses were punished left, right and centre for daring to
exercise their democratic right of choosing their leaders They wanted no
more of ZANU PF. Enough was enough? They did not want a power sharing deal.
A complete and total change of government was what each voter who voted for
the MDC wanted.

They got nothing, nothing anywhere near that. They needed
not the deal, they did not hope for compromises nor power sharing or an
inclusive government whatever you may want to call.

That Mugabe won
the runoff (one off) in June and should be recognized is both mischievous,
malicious and utter blackmailing and subversion of the will of the masses.
The ZANU PF regime won against its people. It won against the masses. They
won against hope; they were victors against common sense and common wish.
They scored a political goal against democracy in
Zimbabwe.

The MDC's

They lost it from day one after
the March 29 elections. Facing victory they didn't know what to do and
remained an opposition! Mugabe seized the opportunity with zeal and zest to
cling on to power using all means possible, necessary and
unnecessary.

While the opposition was gallivanting across the continent
and abroad ZANU PF's killer machine was running amock in the rural areas and
towns leaving masses petrified and cowed into voting for the same leader
they had vehemently rejected in March..

When the leaders of
the opposition finally came back from the honeymoon or diplomatic offensive
or nonsense whatever they called it, the tables had been turned against them
and were heading for a whitewash. They chose to pull out or boycott. It was
too little too late. Mugabe then claimed victory, putting himself and is
party in a stronger position on the negotiating table. With the economy
collapsing, the country facing a possible humanitarian crisis, the regime
had no choice but to call the opposition for talks. Insincere though they
were.

The opposition got into the negotiations with bruised egos, they
negotiated with some semblance of intelligence and purpose. Still they were
beaten to it. The SADC and AU pressurized them to agree. It was expected
after the Kenya style and that most of those who advocated for the agreement
are themselves dictators and despots. Omar Bongo, Eduardo Dos Santos,
Gaddafi the list endless.

After talking about talks, agreeing to
disagree they finally put pen to paper agreeing to give Mugabe what the
people denied him in March, the Presidency, legitimacy and credibility. The
people lost. The MDC lost. Mugabe and ZANU PF won three things every part
wanted, the Presidency, the Legitimacy and Credibility, all for free. Mbeki
won it for them.

Mugabe and ZANU PF

They needed
the deal most. They needed it for political legitimacy and
credibility.

After the March 29 election scare, Mugabe and ZANU PF
regrouped and fought back for their lives. Resilience and bits of cynics
paid off at a later stage. With the state apparatus at their disposal, they
instituted a campaign of terror, killed and cowed voters into voting for
them during the June drama. The victory was double, they won against
themselves and the future. The scars of their reign of terror will certainly
take years to dry and they will be harshly judged in the next
elections.

However, the ZANU PF regime won everything on offer at the
negotiating table. They managed to relegate the opposition into political
spectators through cosmetic lease of power. To say that it is a 50-50 power
sharing agreement between the parties is being insincere to one's analytical
skills. Mugabe won the power.

Mugabe needed the agreement to win
back the Presidency and all that goes with. Mugabe needed legitimacy and
credibility which were tied to this political agreement. He needed the deal
more than anyone else, however for his selfish gains. He won. The people
lost. Whether we want to agree or not, whether we say that we must give the
deal some chance, the fact remains, Mugabe won and the people
lost.

Democracy

A difficult proposition in Africa said
Mugabe at the signing ceremony. He meant it. He believes just that. From
Kenya down to Zimbabwe lady democracy did not only lose but was raped!
Dictators won against democracy. They won against the wills of the people.
When democracy loses against any leader, it's the people of that nation who
will feel the pain. Democracy seems to be in a losing streak in Africa, we
had our own time here in Zimbabwe.

Thabo Mbeki

The aloof
African renaissance architect won against Zimbabwean people. He wanted to
save ZANU PF, he did. He wanted Mugabe to remain in power, it was
successful. The current crisis is not Mugabe's faulty, he still believes.
There is no crisis, he said it.

The MDC must not be given any
semblance of power, that's what he planned in the power sharing agreement.
He would serve and save Mugabe to death, he lost his office partly because
of his handling of the Zimbabwean issue. He won though here but lost at
home. The deal, he and Mugabe needed it most. They got it and its benefits.
The people of Zimbabwe lost. Africa lost. Democracy is the biggest
loser.

Gibson Nyambayo is a former Students Executive
President at Chinhoyi University of Technology. He was arrested several
times by the Mugabe regime.

You have to plant before you can
harvest

BULAWAYO, 8 October 2008 (IRIN) - Zimbabwe faces yet another
disastrous agricultural year: with hardly a month to go before the planting
season starts, many farmers have not received the fertiliser and seeds they
need.

Agricultural inputs are hard to find on shop shelves in rural
areas, and farmers in many parts of the country are yet to prepare the land
for the coming farming season.

Zimbabwe's hope of economic revival -
after successive years of drought and lack of investment in its
controversial land reform programme - rests on the performance of the
agricultural sector, the backbone of the country's industrial and
manufacturing sectors.

The government said it would target 500,000
hectares of land for food production in 2008 under a "Champion Farmer"
programme, and pledged 10 million litres of diesel, 12,000 tonnes of seed
and 450,000 tonnes of fertiliser for selected farmers.

Champion
Farmers are those the government has deemed productive and worthy of reward.
However, their numbers have not been revealed, and there have been no
reports as to whether any inputs have actually been delivered. For ordinary
farmers, this season is little different from the successive years of rising
fertiliser and fuel costs.

"The problem we are facing today is perennial;
the government has not learnt any lessons from the past," said Nicholas
Nyathi, a small-scale farmer in Nyamandlovu, which used to be a prime
farming area in the southern region of Matabeleland.

"We are now
supposed to be preparing the land for farming - the first rains are due in a
few weeks' time - but we do not have any seed and fertiliser in place. We
are headed for the same disaster we have witnessed before."

Opposition
politician and agricultural expert Renson Gasela has attacked the Champion
Farmer strategy, both as a concept and in terms of delivery. "There are no
inputs on the ground, and what we are hearing from the press is that a lot
is being done to assist targeted farmers, and those targeted are said to be
top farmers, but the number of top farmers is small compared to over one
million small-scale farmers around the country."

Urgent aid
needed

Defending the targeted input programme, Morris Sakubaya, deputy
minister of local government, said beneficiary farmers should share the
equipment and inputs with those not on the government's scheme.

"The
inputs and equipment the government is distributing are meant to benefit all
Zimbabweans, and the beneficiaries under this scheme should support and
share with those that did not benefit from the farm input scheme," Sakubaya
said.

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John
Holmes, has called for urgent aid to avert a humanitarian disaster that will
affect Zimbabwe before its next harvest. An estimated 3.8 million people
would be classed as food insecure between now and the end of the year,
rising to over five million - close to half the 12 million population - in
the first three months of 2009.

However, the UN 2008 Consolidated
Humanitarian Appeal for Zimbabwe was funded in September at just 60 percent
of the US$394 million required. Critically underfunded sectors include
emergency agriculture and education; funds for health, water and sanitation
are also low.

"This is worrying at a time when the people of Zimbabwe
urgently need food, seeds, fertilisers and essential drugs, among so many
other priorities," Holmes said in September. "While the humanitarian
community must urgently step up immediate interventions, I call on the donor
community to step up its funding in parallel, particularly to priority
sectors and projects."

The inability of the agricultural sector to
produce enough food, as well as the difficulties of importing foodstuffs due
to a foreign exchange crunch, has contributed to the growing food
gap.

"Spiralling inflation, deteriorating physical infrastructure, the
inability of the public sector to deliver basic social services, and the
severe impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic have led to a decline in the overall
health and well-being of the population," the UN's appeal document
notes.

"The erosion of livelihoods, food insecurity, rising malnutrition
and the possibility of disease outbreaks are putting the already vulnerable
population under further distress."

This article does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations

Activists shout from the sidelines

"We are
better able to articulate the issues that affect other HIV-positive
Zimbabweans"

HARARE, 8 October 2008 (PlusNews) - The
new board of Zimbabwe's National AIDS Council (NAC) has a glaring omission: not
one member is living openly with the HI-virus. AIDS activists have slammed the
move, describing it as "discriminatory" and a step backwards in the fight
against the epidemic.

The NAC was established in 1999 to coordinate and
facilitate Zimbabwe's multi-sectoral response to HIV/AIDS, and the board makes
some of the country's most important decisions affecting the welfare of those
living with HIV.

When the board's term expired recently, Zimbabwe's
health minister, David Parirenyatwa, re-appointed seven previous board members
and named four new ones, including the director of the Zimbabwe Business Council
on AIDS; a gospel singer, and a member of the Traditional Medical Practitioners
Council.

Martha Tolana of the Zimbabwe AIDS Network, an umbrella body
for over 400 non-governmental organisations, who is openly living with HIV,
raised concerns about the exclusion from the board of HIV-positive people, or
anyone from a member organisation of the AIDS Network.

"The advantage of
placing people like us, who are living with HIV, in strategic places such as the
NAC board is that we are better able to articulate the issues that affect other
HIV-positive Zimbabweans, because we experience them too," she told
IRIN/PlusNews.

We are only remembered when there is a workshop to
be held, and the organisers want to use our testimonies to record and take to
donors for funding.

Joao Zangarati of the Grassroots Movement of
People Living with HIV/AIDS warned that no response could succeed without the
meaningful involvement of people who were directly affected.

"We are
only remembered when there is a workshop to be held, and the organisers want to
use our testimonies and life stories to record and take to donors for funding,"
he commented.

"After that we are forgotten, and remembered again when it
suits these organisations. It is very unfortunate really. There can't be any
meaningful interventions without the guidance of us people living with HIV and
the sooner policy-makers realise this, the better for all of us," Zangarati
said.

NAC director Dr Tapuwa Magure said there had been no deliberate
attempt to sideline people living with HIV, and alleged that the "fragmented"
AIDS network organisations had failed to "speak with one voice" and agree on the
names of people to be put forward to sit on the board.

"The ministry of
health and child welfare wrote to AIDS network organisations and requested names
of people living with HIV to be included on the board, but there is a lot of
infighting and we haven't received any names," he told IRIN/PlusNews.

Nevertheless, Otto Saki, the programmes coordinator of Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights (ZLHR), pointed out that "it is not too late" for the minister
of health and child welfare to include HIV-positive representatives on the
board.

[ENDS]

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]

Dictators
become contemptuous of people

WITH time despots develop contempt for the people they rule.
Pampered and deified by sycophants who daily attend to them they believe it
was decided in the heavens that they should lord over their
people.

When Marie Antoinnete, wife of the French King Louis XVI,
famously said: "If they have no bread let them eat cake" it was a
manifestation of the utter contempt she had for the hungry and desperate
masses.

Such contempt for the people is on display in Zimbabwe today. The
masses are hungry with over three million now dependent on foreign aid.
Hyperinflation and massive unemployment have plunged the vast majority into
unprecedented levels of destitution and despair. Health and education
services have virtually collapsed. There is an outbreak of diseases such as
cholera due to a lack of clean and safe water. Infrastructure throughout the
country is crumbling creating conditions of squalor. People continue to
flock to neighbouring countries in large numbers. The country has never been
in such dire straits.

What is the response of the ruling class? A
cold indifference. The indifference is only matched by the leadership's
obsession with its own power and privileges. During the last election
campaign Robert Mugabe said only God could remove him from power. Like the
Kings of old he has a divine right to rule. He is not answerable to the
people of Zimbabwe. Elections are an acceptable ritual if they produce an
outcome that affirms his right to rule. When the people rejected him and his
party on March 29 all sorts of horrors visited them. Now that he has what he
believes is his right - the presidency - he can proceed with matters of
state at a leisurely pace and on his own terms.

The so-called
power-sharing agreement was signed more than three weeks ago on 15
September. By now the following should have been done - constitution
amended, cabinet sworn in and the government up and running. Instead while
people sink deeper into the mire Mugabe plays games. His heart is not in the
agreement even though it favours him. He subscribes to the notion that power
is indivisible. All of it belongs to him. There is no government in
Zimbabwe. The people have to fend for themselves.

What is important
to Mugabe is to get the ministries central to his rule. He wants the defence
ministry because armed forces underpin his rule. Power emanates from the
barrel of a gun. The ministry of justice is needed to control the judiciary.
Patrick Chinamasa has done a terrific job for Mugabe in that ministry. The
police have been reduced to a wing of Zanu-PF. The party therefore has to
control home affairs. The MDC controls too many local authorities for the
regime's liking. The ministry of local government must be in Zanu-PF hands
to subvert MDC -controlled councils especially in urban areas.

The
ministry is also an instrument to bully and bribe traditional leaders to
support Zanu-PF and act as its political commissars during elections. The
Holy Grail is the ministry of finance which together with the Reserve Bank
has become a cesspool of corruption. The Reserve Bank is now the cash cow
for the regime's many covert operations that include funding state-sponsored
violence. The bank and its parent ministry must definitely not fall into the
wrong hands. It is all about what Mugabe and his Zanu-PF underlings want.
What about the people? They should shut up and be grateful that Zanu-PF
liberated them.

Mugabe was in a hurry to get MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai to sign the agreement that conferred legitimacy on his
presidency. Once he got that signature things were going to be done his way.
The arrogance which was badly shaken after March 29 is slowly returning.
Referring to the dispute over cabinet posts Chinamasa said: "They MDC have
always been Western puppets. They want to steal power from us and that will
not happen. We are still in control of this country and they must accept
that. We will not give them more than we offered." He made it clear that
Thabo Mbeki was not needed to broker the issue. Having secured the
presidency for Mugabe the former South African president has outlived his
usefulness to the regime.

The MDC's chief negotiator Tendai Biti
condemned Zanu-PF's lack of good faith and its "arrogant and contemptuous
attitude." He is also quoted as saying that it was a mistake for the MDC to
sign the agreement without resolving the issue of cabinet posts. Their
mistake was much bigger than that. They abandoned the principle of an
inclusive transitional government opting to be co-opted into an essentially
Zanu-PF structure. That is where the fatal error was committed. It is
astonishing that Biti and his colleagues ever thought even for one moment
that Mugabe could act in good faith.

Even now faced with Mugabe's
antics they still have faith in SADC and the AU. Party spokesman Nelson
Chamisa recently said: "Zanu-PF now wants all key ministries and governors'
posts. This is the height of intransigence. We appeal to the guarantors of
the deal, SADC and AU to move in."

The MDC will soon find out the
worthlessness of these guarantees.

Already at this early stage the MDC
has started to pay for its folly. It is puzzling how a party that has been
at the receiving end of Zanu-PF's shenanigans and brutality for nine years
naively believed that Mugabe could act in good faith. Without sincerity from
all sides such a clumsily structured deal is dead in the water. What
happened to Tsvangirai's vow that he would not enter into a pact of
political elites? Yet he did precisely that by signing an agreement that
negated the fundamental principle of the primacy of the peoples' will as
expressed in free and fair elections. He was duped into becoming a junior
partner in what Kenyan columnist Binyavanga Wainaina called "a government of
the political class, by the political class and for the political
class."

Meanwhile as politicians squabble over the spoils of office the
people continue to suffer and the country further downgraded to banana
republic status. This week the UN issued an appeal for US$240 million to
feed Zimbabweans. A proud people who could for generations feed themselves
comfortably now suffer the indignity of begging for food. Their plight and
that of the country are not in need of urgent attention.

Not long ago
on one of his foreign visits it was put to Mugabe that his people had no
maize to eat. "They can eat potatoes" he said provoking a newspaper
headline, "Let them eat spuds."

Next time he is asked the same question
he can add that the rabble can eat wild fruits as well.

Zimbabweans must shun Mugabe's broom-boys

Several times, Zimbabweans have made efforts to correct the
problems in the country. And several times sell-outs were dispatched on the
scene to foil any possible success that farvour the people.

Vultures
are frightful birds because they don't appear to amuse anyone or anything.
Their presence is a statement and an indication that something is dying.
Vultures don't just come; vultures only come to dinner.I am reminded of the
vultures after I read a news item that one Simba Makoni is on the verge of
forming a political party. I am astounded at such selfish and self defeating
maneuvers.

In March this year, Simba Makoni, Arthur Mutambara and
Welshman Ncube came to the aid of dictator Robert Mugabe. These men postured
miserably but failed to hide what they really were up to.In the end,
however, and if we are to believe ZANU-PF, Simba Makoni managed to symphony
off 8 percent of the votes, enough to "deny" Tsvangirai an outright victory
and avoid the run-off elections.Because of that silly move on his part,
Zimbabwe witnessed violence on an unimaginable scale and today, because of
Simba Makoni, the country remains mired in decay, rot, violence and abuse of
citizens.

ZANU-PF went on to cheat the people and to hold meaningless
elections with only one contestant. It was surprising that a man proud as
Mugabe was, could shamelessly stand in front of people and declare himself a
winner. When desperation and rejection come together, schizophrenia takes
residence.And Mugabe's schizophrenic behavior has been running the country
since then.

I applaud Tsvangirai and the MDC for going out of their way
to seek a solution to the problem that confronted the nation. In that vein,
they pushed and shoved to get Mugabe and his ZANU-PF to the negotiating
table. They then went on to make a big mistake and signed an agreement
before the negotiations were complete.And now the nation is once again
back to square one after having placed so much hope in those talks although
we suspected that nothing would come out of the talks because the people
were being left out.Now the MDC admits they made a mistake and the nation is
once again tottering on its weak legs inviting the vultures already circling
in the air.

It is clear now that Mugabe never had any intention to
honour any agreement. It was all a façade to buy time and hoodwink the
international community into believing that an honest effort was being made
to resolve the crisis. But Mugabe wanted to use Tsvangirai to have sanctions
removed and to have donors coming with money.Thankfully, it did not work
and we, once again, find ourselves staring into the abyss.We came close
to achieving something and I would have hoped that we could just pick up the
pieces and try again. But Mugabe was never serious so he brings his
broom-boy Makoni back into play.

What, may I ask, does Simba Makoni hope
to achieve? Who does he want to replace? Or is he just a power hungry
misguided technocrat who is peeved to see the likes of Mutambara enjoying
the unholy camaraderie with Robert Mugabe?Who is funding him and why?
What is it that he wants to do or achieve? He must be a big joker for it
does take a lot of courage to stand before the people who just rejected you
and tell them that you are preparing a new political party for them.But
we know what Makoni is doing. He is trying to move attention from Mugabe's
handling of the agreement. Makoni is shielding Mugabe again. Makoni knows he
won't get any followers because the people made it clear that sell-outs are
not welcome.

If he is so keen on serving Zimbabwe, why doesn't he
join efforts being made by one of the existing political parties instead of
bothering us with a useless, directionless party that is only there for
Mugabe's convenience?He even has the audacity to call his grouping "a
full-fledged opposition political party". Who is he opposing, ZANU-PF or the
MDC? It can't be the MDC because the MDC is not in power. It can't be
ZANU-PF because ZANU-PF is an opposition party.And laughably, his
party's spokesperson said Makoni is owned by the people of Zimbabwe,
really?

They come to muddy the political landscape by spouting old manure
about nationalism and pan-Africanism. As the MDC eats humble pie and admits
that signing the deal was a big mistake, Simba Makoni returns on the scene
and welcomed "the all-inclusive government deal signed on September 15
between Mugabe and the leaders of the two formations of the MDC, Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara". Why can't some people grow up?The
heart of the matter is that people like Simba Makoni, Welshman Ncube, Arthur
Mutambara and others should give Zimbabweans a break. These people have
caused so much damage to the nation and it is time they were put in their
place. Why anyone would like to form or join a new political party at this
critical time remains a mystery to me.

We should, instead, pool our
resources and deal with Mugabe and his violent Service Chiefs who have
abused the nation and the people for so long.Makoni and the others we
discussed are defeating the effort that Zimbabweans are making just because
each one of these little boys fancies himself president of
Zimbabwe.

It is time Zimbabweans put these sell-outs in their rightful
places and its going to happen sooner than most people think. Zimbabweans
are tired of being used by meaningless chancers claiming to be saviours
when, in effect, they just want to rape the country like those they are
trying to replace. Enough is enough and Zimbabwe should show these
charlatans the way out.I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that, my fellow
Zimbabweans, is the way it is today, October 9, 2008.

Zimbabwe
cannot resolve its crisis through the deal

Since the signing of the
historic power sharing deal between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations, most
Zimbabweans have been waiting for the unknown and uncertain like a pregnant
woman. A pregnant woman is under constant worry about whether or not she
will deliver a normal healthy baby. She is also concerned with the risks of
miscarriage and still births both which are probable dangers during
pregnancy. Zimbabweans have grown to be anxious about whether the deal will
work or not and most of them have been cautious of the deal.

When
looking at the whole gestation period, that is the negotiation process, one
realises that the period has been a painful, tiring and difficult one. The
way the negotiation process has been progressing can be compared to a
pregnant woman suffering serious complications due to the pregnancy. The
complications surrounding the negotiations can be seen as a cue of the
struggles and challenges people of Zimbabwe are likely to face as a result
of the signed agreement. There have been a couple of deadlocks recently on
the allocation of ministries and Mugabe is not yielding on the governors and
nothing has been said on the allocation of ambassadorial posts. There is
still no common ground from the party leaders and one is left to wonder how
the government of national unity is going to function. There are serious
ideological differences between the two parties which makes it practically
impossible to believe in the capacity of the GNU to deliver people of
Zimbabwe from the mire that they are in. Tsvangirai who won the 2008 March
harmonised elections is still Mugabe's junior partner or a junior brother,
he still reports to Mugabe and Mugabe does not necessarily report to anyone.
He still enjoys a high degree of autonomy.

The pregnant Zimbabwe will
give birth to a Down syndrome baby, a baby without the capability to
function or do anything for itself. . All the expectations and hope will be
replaced by disillusionment, misery and pain and the people of Zimbabwe will
continue to live in dire straits.

This entry was posted on October 8th,
2008 at 12:51 pm by Fungisai Sithole